Anywho...I washed the blouse and discovered that I was missing 3 buttons.

Three.

Out of a total possible 7.

To be fair, one had been missing for a while...it was the top button, which I always leave unbuttoned. There was a button missing when I bought the blouse (yes, time for total honesty: it cost me 75 cents at Salvation Army) so I took the one from the top and moved it down.

But I figured if I was in the market to possibly replace them all, I might as well include that one.

You know...in the vein of "doing my personal best" which I always tout to the PBA.

But...I must tell you: they were not just any plain old buttons. They were cute little black with white polka dots, fabric-covered buttons.

If you know anything about buttons at all, you'll understand what I mean when I tell you that these would probably not be easy to come by.

And even if by some stroke of luck I did find something close...well, to be honest, I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but I figured they would be either

too expensive

too big

too small

the wrong shade of black

and I would have invested more time/energy/money than it was worth.

Instead, I looked to my button jar. It is an old mason jar with some of my buttons and some from my grandma.

I hoped/prayed/crossed my fingers I would find something that would work.

And if there was nothing in the fabric genre, maybe there would be enough white or black buttons (just plain old buttons) which could make it still wearable.

Again...I'm thrifty. No need to go spending upwards of $1-$2 at Jo-Ann's for new buttons when I have something perfectly workable right under my nose.

So...I rummaged and rummaged and when I came up for air, I had one solid black fabric-covered button and two of these.

But I also had a black Sharpie. You may recall this from last summer...

So I ended up with this:

Yes, I am holding the button with a pair of tweezers. I may be cheap but I am not stupid; Sharpies are permanent for crying out loud. (It even says so on the side.)

So, once the buttons dried, I sewed them on. And ended up with this:

If you didn't know, would you know? I didn't think so.

Will the Sharpie run in the wash? I hope not, but I have ample Sharpies for repair-work if needed.

And you could use those Shout Color Catchers in the washing machine, just in case. And, since you are cheap, you can tear them in half or even in thirds and they work just fine. Because they aren't cheap like you.

Random Stuff About Me

I will be fostering (hence the blog name…see what I did there? No, not just a clever name b/c I am a foster care advocate; this technique is called a double-entendre…look at me teaching so much already. Perhaps I under-estimated myself and my educational abilities...) the woman I feel God has meant me to be: a writer, a sharer, a story-teller, a friend, a listener, a prayer-warrior and lots of other hopefully-funny, silly, and crazy things.